. >> al jazeera america. i'm david shuster in new york. here are today's top story. escape from prison. new york state two murderers are on the loose. how did they get the power tools they used and where was the maximum security. shot down, a helicopter had to make an emergency landing. officials believe that gunfire came from the mexican side of the border in an area known for drug smuggling and illegal border contracting crossing.

at the economic summit focusing on the russian and iraq. there are advantages and disadvantages for candidates who have tried this before. >> we begin this hour in up state new york where two convicted murderers who carried out a brazen prison escape are still on the loose. authorities say the men used power tools to cut through steel walls and sewer bricks. the fugitives left that note behind. it reads have a nice day. new york governor andrew quo mow said thatcuomo say that they're

offering a reward for information leading to the men's capture. >> the manhunt now includes hundreds of local, state and law enforcement officers. they've been setting up roadblocks, walking door to door and flying helicopters over the small new york community on the edge. >> these are dangerous people, and they are nothing to be trifled with. >> richard matt was convicted on three counts of murder, including dismemberering his boss. and prison officials at the quinton correction facility, they had fooled guards by stuffing hoodies beneath their head covers. >> it was the back of the cell

from which these inmates escaped. >> they used power tools to cut their way out. >> which don't know yet how they acquired the tools. >> they had to slice through steel grates and pipes and scale down six floors to get into the sewer system. then they broke through a manhole cover to break outside of the prison walls. >> former commissioner department of corrections who began his work in max security facilities. now he's at the john j. college in new york. how does a prison inmate get ahold of power tools? >> i think the first thing to understand is that this is a very rare occurrence. there has not been an escape from max security in new york since 1993. there are several ways that this can happen. based on what i heard prison officials say that all the prison tools are accounted for so it's a good bet there was

outside construction going on maybe a local contractor was brought in to do some work on the heating system or the plumbing system or the electrical system and the inmates were able to filch tools from that source. >> how could nobody hear it? it makes noise when you're using power tools in a cell against concrete and metal. how could they do it without the guards knowing about it? >> that's the $64,000 question. there are lots of things that the internal investigation is going to have to look into. one has to ask whether or not the officers were making their required rounds. one has to ask whether or not staffing cuts over the last several years which there have been many left the prison short staffed and the area wasn't covered. you know, the prisoners watch the officers, and they know when the officers are coming by, and they know when the officers respect. if these officers were spread

too thin, and if there are long intervals between their rounds. they might have worked for five minutes. shut it down and worked for five minutes and shout it down. they did not do this in one night. >> any indication when the prisoners escaped and when they were caught and how much of an vagina is for the prisoners? >> look, they were noticed to be missing at 5:30 in the morning. i think there is a question to be asked when was the last time that they were actually seen up and around and breathing. those are questions that the internal investigation is going to ask for. it's not unheard of in these situations for the officers to be lax in the performance of their duty to become complacent. you know, when you've had a track record like this prison has, which has not had an escape in over 100 years you start to think that your prison is impregnable.

but the reality is that no prison is impregnable. it's only as strong as the weakest link in the chain and that's the prison officer doing his or her duty. >> and there is a code of silence among prison inmates. what is the protocol in searching for the escaped inmates. >> i've lived up there. this is surrounded by state forest dense under brush, dense forest but it's also in this community, but it's a prison community. a generations of people who work in the prison, live in the area. so if they happen upon people, they're likely to happen happening upon people with connections with the president erdogan. two things, they either had a vehicle waiting for them and

they're long gone. or they're deep in the woods and laying low for the search teams to run out of steam. the search will continue for a week. it might continue for ten days. but at some point the state is going to shut 2 down it down, and in previous escapes it's not unheard of for a prisoner to dig a hole in the ground, put leaves on top of it and wait for the search parties to peter out. on the other hand it's entirely possible that they had a confederate pick them up. >> and given the sophistication with which they carried out this prison break, is it possible that they had someone they were communicating on the outside? >> i'm not going to speculate. that will be determined in the course of the investigation. i have no doubt that the new york state prison correctionals as well as the police will get to the bottom of

this. >> thanks for joining us. >> you're welcome. >> we learned today that that an u.s. properly patrol border patrol went down after gunfire. authorities expect the shots came from the mexican side of the border known for drug smuggling and migrant cropping. joint forces just recaptured some territory and cut off a key isil supply line. iraqi forces also reportedly made gains in the northern part of the country retaking some areas isil held since last year. we'll have much more on the fight against isil and iraq coming up 8:30 eastern time.

russian president vladimir putin said today he's committed to maintaining the cease-fire in ukraine, but renewed fighting threatens to make it cease-fire in name only. putin said he's doing what he can to rein in separatists and they must convince the ukrainian government to up hold its side of the agreement. >> there is nothing that we can do about it. only our european and american partners can influence this situation. one should not threaten us with any sanctions. we had nothing to do with it. >> putin insists that they have no reason to fear russia and that no sane person would take on nato. >> at the g 7 summit in german yay, barack obama spoke.

>> the spring sunshine like a picture of bavarian culture. germany's chancellor greeted the u.s. president and spoke of their two countries enduring friendship. [applause] >> despite some differences of opinion that we have today the united states of america are our friend our partner and such an important partner that we closely cooperate because it is in our common interest, because we want it, and because we have shared values. >> and on sunday morning they shared a sample of the food and drink this part of bavaria is renown for. but despite the good humor evident on both sides these leaders have serious issues on their plates.

>> the global economy that creates jobs and opportunity maintaining a strong and prosperous european union forging trade partnerships across the atlantic, standing up to russian aggression in ukraine, combating threats from violent extremism to climb change. >> but the situation ukraine is not the only flash point issue facing these world leaders. here at the summit. also high on their agenda is the potential of what's called greecewhere greece may be forced out of the euro zone for fail ling to pay its debts. there were turn words for the greek government over what he called reform. >> while the politicians were getting down to the details in

the forests all around them hundreds of protesters were trying to get as close as possible with the aim of disrupting their deliberations. but the ring of steel that the authorities have built prevented them from doing that. allowing the leaders to continue talking on monday they will concentrate on how to deal with the islamic state in iraq and the levant and managing climate change. dominic kane, al jazeera, at the g 7 summit. >> g 7 is a very elite club and patricia sabga join us now. the language of power that we're hearing out of the summit, but are we likely to hear power that will impact it? >> g 7 has a lot on its plate but given who is not at the summit many are questioning how effective this elite club really is. it's the most elite club on earth, but the group of seven to

call the shots aren't what they used to be. >> the way global order is organized. they're less important than they were a number of years ago. >> thanks in large part who is not at the table. the g 7 does not include china the world's largest economy. china is harnessing it's reserve to project that clout joining forces with fellow brazil, russia india south africa to create the development bank and bail out funds and pouring billions into projects that beijing hopes will create a new silk road encompassing asia, africa. but it hit home when more than 50 countries including four g 7 nations russiad to become

founding members of the new china led asian infrastructure investment bank. >> when you juxtapose those with the g 7 you say g 7 is losing ground when it comes to global clout, economic must. >> well, waning power underscored of russia's pursuit of economic and military ties with china to end run sanctions over ukraine. >> this is one item on the long list of issues that g 7 is tackling. the question is what if 2058 those talks will project the power of this group or produce another photo op of a club whose powers are fading. >> greece and it's financial meltdown, any reason to believe that the g 7 will do anything different ought of this meeting? >> everyone is seeing this as a litmus test. we saw in the wake of the financial crisis they did get

together. they coordinated action. they have interest rates and then boom, the u.s. continued down a stimulus road and europe went the way of greater austerity. then you have this drama involving greece. and really it's crunch time now. so the question is are they going to be able--will the g 7 be able to come up with a solution to the greek debt crisis. this could an litmus test of this group. >> what is the expectation? yes or no? >> well, right now what we're seeing this all plays into sanctions as well. when obama is at the commit, the united states really wants to see the european union stay on the same page, if you will, with keeping sanctions pressure on russia but there is going to be horse trading involved. europe is getting hurt by those sanctions especially germany because russia is a big trading partner of germany and you have many german businesses invested in russia.

and germany is the one who is stone walling if you will, on these greek debt talks. they want to see greater reform from the greek government. >> complicated. patricia sabga appreciate it. at the same time, the country has been torn apart with a saudi led coalition battling the houthi rebels, it's the civilian who is are paying the price. >> the simple process of making bread is difficult in yemen's capital of sanaa. running a small bakery and he's struggling. it's estimated more than half of the bakeries have shut down due to a shortage of fuel and power. a basic staple of the yemeni diet now becoming a rare commodity. a kilo of flour used to cost $0.40. now it costs $0.60. prices have gone up all across

the board and that makes it difficult for answer a bakery. >> we're facing shorteddage of fuel. now we're using gas which only not does not make things slow but it's expensive. power outages are another problem. on top of that, the shortage of fresh cold water is one of the difficulties we face. and above all the workers' spirits are down. >> on the black max met troll can cost $7 per liter. that's creating a black market for yemen. people will wait for days to fill up their cars and then many people sell it on for a higher price. it's how bad the shortage is going. >> thethere is no state. total vacuum. that's why big companies have come to a halt. second citizens purchasing

power has decreased substantially. >> four months of the saudi led air campaign targeting houthi fighters and troops loyal to ousted president ali abdullah saleh. basic services have been suspended and fighters prices have skyrocketed due to the fighting. 80% of those who live in yemen need aid to survive. what was once bustling commercial streets are now amendment. shutters are closed. >> we're living in a real catastrophe. how will all those families earn a living? >> that's a question that none of the warring sides are willing to answer. it's not just the dead and injured in the fighting. yemen's war has taken its toll on everyone in the country. al jazeera. >> just ahead there was a major election upset today in turkey. it appears that the ruling party

has lost it's majority. for the first time turkey's kurdish minority may have won a foothold in parliament. we'll sprain what it means for the west. and the future of five prisoners released from guantanamo bay.

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>> there have been stunning election results. president erdogan has seen his ruling party lose it's majority. and efforts to change the turkish constitution and give the president more power. the main kurdish power swept past the threshold and gained seats in parliament. the western government referred to erdogan as a model of muslim democracy, but he refused to get involved in syria's civil war and is no longer considered to be reliable and trustworthy. we're in instant bull with the

election results. what do the results mean in terms of the u.s. relationship with turkey? >> well, i think the u.s. is watching the results very slowly. now what it means it remains to be seen because we need to find out who will governor turkey. now the results is a blow for the ruling party as well as for president erdogan. i think the u.s. will deal with any government because turkey is a key ally. it is a key nato member. i think the quality of turkey the u.s. would welcome back mainly in egypt and mainly in syria because now the relations with turkey and it's ruling party.

>> tell us about the rise of the main kurdish party and what their rise means for domestic politics in turkey, and domestic policies? >> there is a historic day for the kurds because this is the first time in the history of this nation that a party was declared kurdish identity entered parliament. what it means for domestic politics it will. they'll have a better say and especially by them not only passing the 10% threshold they got, even 12% around 12% and it's very close to the party in this country. that means that the local politics of this country has changed. >> omar, you mentioned that there was an effort to change the constitution to give the presidency more power in turkey.

how much of a set back. how much does this change that effort in terms of restructuring the constitution? >> well, i think that effort got a big flow and mainly the main opposition party as well as the other parties are saying that this is a done deal. this issue of changing turkey's constitution and introducing an executive presidency is not going to happen. it's a big job for the president and big job for the ruling party. they were hoping for a majority to change the constitution right away. that did not happen. they were hoping to get 330 seats in parliament to put forward the constitution into the referendum as far as the results are concerned. that is unlikely to happen at this stage. >> al jazeera's omar in istanbul omar, thank you so

much. polls have just closed in one of mexico's midterm elections. at stake is the entire lower chamber of the national congress. several governors and a race for mayor. we have followed the voting. >> we're here in the southern state of guerrero where 40 students went missing in september. so far many people have come to cast their votes in a peaceful way, but surrounding this city are hundreds of security. army soldiers protecting the national election commission. we've been speaking to local election locals, they have not been able to open up all the polling stations in the area. people who were expected to show up and the head of the election office said that these are the

most challenging elections yet in mexico. and it shows how frustrated angry and disgusted they are with their government after the killings and scandals here. we're seeing teachers who tried to block this election any way they can caller. for a boy--they are calling for a boycott. most polling stations are open, and people who want to cast their votes can do so peacefully. but here in guerrero they told us that in this district, only 87% of polling stations have been open, meaning 13% of polling stations were closed because people who were going to work the polling stations were too afraid to show up. >> the u.s. presidential campaign. a dozen candidates have declared they had tried before and lost.

history suggests that that could help them. >> we're watching a tropical storm making its way through mexico and severe weather across much of the united states. we'll have more details right after this.

>> i'm david shuster. here look at our stories. two inmates escape from maximum security prison. they made it through the prison walls with the help of power tools. they left a note saying "have a nice day." >> a helicopter was patrolling the mexico-u.s. border the helicopter landed safely with no injuries but had been shot at. in turkey, presidenter

president erdogan could lose it's majority party. the main opposition appears to have received 25% of the vote. turkey is a major supporter of nato and a major ally of the united states. in the u.s. presidential election several candidates are research hetting their attacks on democratic frontrunner hillary clinton. last week she called out the governors of four states requiring photo identification. texas governor and g.o.p. presidential contender rick perry was one of them, and today he hit back. >> this is a state issue and this is an issue that the state of texas overwhelmingly support. you know, i don't know who she's play to go, but she's not play together people of texas, i don't think she's playing to americans who believe that the sanctity of the vote is really important. >> new jersey governor chris

christie also blasted clinton he added he's still considering a presidential run. >> she doesn't know what she's talking about. you know, in new jersey we have early voting that are available to people. i don't want to expand it and increase the opportunity for fraud. maybe that's what she want to do, i don't know. but the fact is that folks in new jersey have plenty of opportunity to vote, and maybe she took some questions from places and learned some things she wouldn't make such ridiculous statements. >> it is believed that if at first you don't succeed try try again. on this election cycle there are four presidential candidates who have tried before and lost. three of them actually got pretty close to winning a presidential nomination, the fourth is looking for redemption redemption. each of them, however are convinced that their campaign experience will be crucial. >> today i'm running for the presidency of united states of america. >> just days after declaring his presidential declare run former

texas governor rick perry appeared and announced something that his campaign would not recognize. >> there is nothing too big to fail when it comes to banks and corporate entities. i think americans are fed up, i am. >> perry seemed to embrace wall street regulations. four years ago the republican opposed most government regulation. >> the third agency of government, i would do away with education the the commerce and let's see i can't--the third one, i can't. sorry. oops. >> this time around, he says will be different. >> we're healthy and well prepared. so it's been a lot of time in iowa and new hampshire, south carolina that plays great

dividends just in itself. >> rick santorum.com, and let's take back miracle. >> former pennsylvania senator rick santorum is also running for the second time. four years ago he surprised the political war by winning 11 state nomination contests. >> miracle after miracle this race was was improbable as any race you will see for president. >> the presidential nomination was mitt romney. in his first race in 2008 romney finished third to john mccain. >> accepting our party's nomination for president of the united states. >> mccain had the republican nomination eight years earlier. and in 2008 former arkansas governor mike huckabee finished as a runner up to mccain. huckabee is now running again and breaking from the g.o.p.

pack on social security. >> if congress wants to take away someone's retirement, let them in their congressional pensions. not your social security. >> political strategists say that presidential campaign experience is usually a major advantage. it can boost a candidate's confidence and fundraising and it helps them to avoid certain gaffes and pitfalls that may have doomed them the first time. >> let's talk, let's chat, let's start a dialogue about your ideas and mine. >> on the democratic side, for example, hillary clinton's first campaign eight years ago was marked by staff-infighting and limited organization in several states. mindful of her searing 2008 loss to barack obama clinton and her staff say they're taking nothing for granted now. >> so i'm hitting the road to earn your vote because it's your time. and i hope you'll join me on this journey. >> history is on the side of

previous campaign losers from thomas jefferson to george h. w. bush one out of every four presidents took the white house after having run before and lost. >> now to texas. a police officer has been suspended after he drew his gun while breaking up a pool party. video of friday engine's incident was post to youtube and shows officers trying to disperse a crowd outside of a pool in mckinney, north of dallas. one officer is seen grabbing a 14-year-old girl and wrestling her to the ground. when two young men tried to intervene the same officer drew his gun and pointed it at them. in other news the afghan taliban said that there was no justification for travel restrictions in qatar. the men known as the taliban

five were released from guantanamo bay in exchange for bowe bergdahl. in a statement the taliban said that the contradicts the terms of the exchange which only prevented the men for leaving for a year. those conditions have now lapsed and the men should be able to live where they want. we spoke with the director of south asia programs, and she asked why qatar has extended the ban? >> i think this has to be looked at part of a larger deal. without a deal which the u.s. is involved. what are they going to get in return for letting these people go? i think that's the question that has not been answered. the afghan president was supposed to travel to qatar recently. he had to cancel his trip

because of issues. unless and until they have a quid pro quo from the taliban ideally the taliban will agree to start talks, i don't think this is going to be easy for the taliban to get their way. >> when the ban is lifted where will these taliban people go? >> i think that's the big question. remember pakistan famously released about eight or ten tall pan prisoners about three years back when president karzai was in power. then we found out those people went back to afghanistan and some of them even joined the fighting. there is also that risk if you don't have a deal in place if you don't know what these people are going to do, this may nobody negative for the afghan government. i think they're going to be very cars before such a decision is

taken. >> russian president vladimir putin will visit the pope at the vatican. the pope has expressed concern over the conflict in eastern ukraine but has not called on russia to end the fighting. russia denies it's troops are fighting along side ukrainian rebels. and the meetings are just two the pope's latest diplomatic earths. josh contra-mci will way is the vatican correspondent. he is joins us from rome. >> the pope seems has taken a pro active approach to foreign diplomacy. they are trying to play offense they don't want to be stuck on defense. in the past we've seen the pope play a key role. both president barack obama and president raul castro said that the pope played a key role in

the opening of the embassies. what it looks like president putin will be in italy to attend an expo in milan sort of like a world's fair. he'll come down to meet with the italian authorities. the pope accepted that opportunity to meet with the russian president, and, it's a very complicated situation but the catholic church is an entity that spans across the world. it might be an opportunity for the pope to say something or to mention something that might have an impact in the long range. >> what are key issues that the pope might be tempted to address as ukraine and russian sport for separatists in the war in eastern ukraine. how do you expect that exchanging to given that vladimir putin will he be respectful to the pope, and will the pope expect that putin will be respectful to him? >> i don't think there isn't a reason to think that president

putin wouldn't be respectful to the pope. >> the pope packed a stadium where catholics are just 15% of the population of the country's 3.9 million. yet he got a full stadium in sarajevo. is anyone at the vatican surprised of his popularity? what do they make of it? >> yesterday it was a whirlwind day. the pope went to sarajevo. spent 11 hours in the country did eight visits and was just very personal. his visit at the cathedral with catholic priests he listened to their stories of what it was like to live through the bosnian war, horrific stories of torture and kidnapping, and horror riffing and harrowing stories. the pope pope spoke to from his heart about suffering pain, and at times he was without words.

i think that's one little show of just what power the pope has. >> what confidence the pope francis has in his ability to influence politics given the huge support that he has been getting also some of its political successes? >> well, i think the body has laid out a new vision for the church or a vision for the church which had not been articulated up to this point. that's a decision of openness, looking at what is going on in the world and trying to respond to it, concretely with an open heart and an open mind. and i think what we're see something that it's having an impact. you know, the possibility of new relations between cuba and the united states and the general popularity of the pope not just in italy and not just in one country, but around the world. i think that has an impact, and

that might have an impact on what the pope is able to do in the political sphere. >> joshua, how is the pope's health? he was quoted as saying this is an exhaustive job. what is his energy like these days? >> i was on on the papal plane with him. in the morning he looked tired. we left at 5:00 a.m. and i think everyone was tired. but he seems to gather energy from the crowd. as i said in that cathedral meeting in sarajevo, he seemed very present very available very open, he does seem to grab energy. he does get tired but he was yesterday he was speaking with youth. his face lit up, and he asked them to go off the cuff and ask him questions and he responded very easily. at this point there is no indication to think that anything is abnormal or any abnormal health problems.

but he is a 78-year-old man. we'll have to wait and see how he goes from here. >> josh mcelay joining us. thank you. >> thank you. >> thousands of migrants were saved off the coast of italy saturday and sunday when calls for help went off some 45 miles off the coast of libya. the international rescue effort included italian authorities naval ships from u.k. and germany. tonight, rowing for a record. what one american is trying to do across the pacific all alone that has never been done before. plus a new perspective the american photographer capturing the history and humanity of ethiopia.

mbol of love between me and my husband to be associated with such atrocities

only on al jazeera america >> indonesias are keeping a close eye on seismic activity that a volcano could erupt again. as you can see villageers living close to the volcano tried to finish harvesting their vegetable crops. back to americas, kevin corriveau in this part of the world. >> we're watching tropical storm. this was a category four hurricane. it's been down are graded to a tropical storm but we need to be watching it. the reason being we'll see quite a bit of rain and we expect flash flooding coming out of this storm. let's take a look right now. the track to the west of cabo cabo san lucas. we saw hurricane bring devastation to the area, this is our track right here. we expect to see a tropical storm when it makes landfall. then it will become a

depression. notice how close it gets to the southern borders of the united states. we expect rain across arizona as well as into new mexico over the next several days. well tonight we're looking at severe weather here and we looked at the thunderstorms anywhere from missouri, indiana and illinois, and you can see the very heavy signals that we have seen with that. we're not seeing tornadoes out of these events right now. but what we are seeing is winds and some of those winds are packing 80 mph--that's going to be a big problem. we're seeing trees down. we're seeing power lines down as well. we do have the warnings in affect. we don't have the tornado watches and warnings, but we do have severe thunderstorm warnings in effect. they will stay in effect through the rest of the evening, we think, and tomorrow we're going to be seeing that severe weather threat move further to the east, new york pennsylvania as well as down here towards kentucky. that is going to be wind and hail in this particular area.

tomorrow though, temperatures are going to be warm throughout much of the united states. we'll see new york up to 80 degrees. we're dealing with dealing with a heat wave and east of the cascades temperatures are getting to the high 90s. for seattle you're going to be well above average. you're going to see temperatures 82 degrees normally for this time of year it would be 68. those temperatures are go to go slowly come back down but even on friday they're going to be five degrees above average. and of course this temperature is now good for the situation in the northwest. >> and kevin corriveau with the weather. thank you very much. tropical rain forests are home to more than half the world's total plant and annal species, and peru has the third largest area of tropical rain forests. there is concern about illegal gold mining that is tush youing fertile soil into toxic wasteland.

>> i do much of my field work in peru but this time we went into the national reserve to investigate our illegal gold mine something destroying this rich and fragile ecosystem. >> the rain forest. legendary,. it's trees remove tons carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. the soil underneath some of the rain frost is laced with gold. and each year an illegal gold rush is turning thousands of acres of this natural wonder into a toxic wasteland. see the color of this river?

this is not normal. this is a sign that there are illegal gold mining operations up river from where we are now. >> this is the national reserve. it's one of the world's most diverse ecosystems. and one of peru owes most's most threatened. it's been devastated by illegal mining. the process turns the soil into 95% sand almost devoid of all organic matter. this may be the biggest challenge scientists face. another problem is miners often contaminate the soil with mercury. they use it to bind those tiny flecks of gold into a clump. the director of the carnegie amazon mercury ecosystem

project. >> cold is not very concentrated. it's only two grams per ton of rock instead of manually concentrating that tiny amount of gold in an awful lot of rock, you take some of the sediment, some water and a little bit of mercury, and you mix it up. >> where else does it end up? >> because it's mercury is dumped in the rivers and lakes it gets into the food chains. mercury can concentrate into sediments and be absorbed by the plants. the areas where there are former mining zones there are a lot of questions about what is next. >> what is next is the work that some local environmental groups are doing to restore the land already destroyed by mining. we'll have that for you monday night on techno. i'm phil torres for al jazeera. >> you can see the full episode of dirty gold monday. that's at 6:30 eastern time and 3:30 pacific.

right here on al jazeera america. del with with a is up on the next program. >> the battle with isil is getting more complex by the day. isil is on the march. isil seems to be seizing mortar tore in iraq and taking advantage of the civil war in syria to consolidate its border in iraq. the top u.s. commander says that the airstrikes are working and the coalition effort has removed 10,000 isil fighters from the battlefield and more than a thousand fighters every month. coming up in the week ahead we're going to take a closer look at the moneys that have been spent and whether those weapons also could wind up being used against the coalition forces. stay with us. >> del looking forward to it thank you. an american rower departed from a port in japan today and if all goes according to plan she'll be the first woman to row solo across the pacific ocean. the 29-year-old is headed to san francisco in a custom made

rowboat. she hopes to arrived there by september. she's conducting research while attempting to make history. she'll be measuring water temperatures and the effects of climate change. awarding scientist it is million dollars for their innovative robot design. it outperformed other robots in the contest. up next, capturing the beauty ofeth yep i can't of ethiopia. >> i've been studying the culture of people. >> the amazing images and the american photographer who tells their stories.

>> the latest work to pay homage to people and president taking landscapes randall pinkston sat down with chester higgins. >> photographer chester higgins has a story for each and every picture. >> these images are among thousands he has captured over four decades of travel to ethiopia beginning in 1973 when he photographed the legendary ethiopian emperor. >> i was very taken by the ethiopian people. they're very reserved, very

calm very confident and yes very strikingly handsome and beautiful. >> you may not have seen higgin's extensive photographs from east africa, chances are you have seen his work. in the "new york times" where he was a staff photographer for nearly 40 years capturing newsmakers and events. >> in his spare time he combs through books in his extensive home library learning all he can about ethiopia and it's mysteries preparing for his mostly self-financed excursions. >> of all the historical information that you learn what was most striking to you initially? >> the fact that they had these churches that were dug out of the mountains. >> pictures of those subterranean pictures are the centerpiece of higgins' exhibition in manhattan. >> this is a church sitting in a 40-foot pit in the mountain. they had to dig it out. here is a situation where no construction material was brought to the site.

the mountain is taken away. >> and you captured this at night with the stars? >> yes yes. >> beautiful. >> and so you were the first photographer-- >> the first and only. >> the first and only. >> right. >> but how did higgins an american, a foreigner persuader swayed ethiopians to trust him and capture some of their most intimate moments. first, higgins says, he works through tribal elders. he pays people who pose for him and he relies on a polaroid camera. >> before i use my 35-millimeter camera whoever i was interested in, i would then make a polaroid of them and give them that polaroid because i realized that it would build bridging of trust and it would show them how i see them. >> with that approach higgins calls himself a cultural anthropologist who works with a

camera. >> how exotic and how strange that's a narrow thing. i'm trying to reform how people see people of africa. but i have a more selfish reason. i'm trying to find reflections of myself. >> higgins said that his love affair from ethiopia is far from over. he plans to continue his artistic journey. >> why do you keep going back to ethiopia for your photographic projects? >> i've fallen in love with the people the culture the history, the uniqueness of the place. and i like being in a situation where i'm in the majority. i'm not a minority, and the majority of exceptional people. >> randall pinkston, al jazeera, new york. >> chester higgins' exhibition is at the gallery in manhattan until june 20th. a reminder of our top story, the search continues in up state

new york for the search of two escaped prisoners. and also the latest news coming from the g 7 summit in germany. remember, you can get the news any time day and night from www.aljazeera.com. >> i'm del walters. we'll have a look at today's top stories. from isil to ukraine and the debt crisis, the g 7 summit in germany. a surprising upset for turkey's president and ruling party. and the search is on for two convicted killers who used power tools to escape. and the u.s. is getting ready to send more weapons to iraq to fight isil, but will those weapons also wind up in the hands of isil?